For the Life Unlived
by hellarad413
Summary: Al and Mattie decide to start a charity called Hetalia Home Helper, a house in which they live, and take in boys who had been abused, neglected, or forgotten. But when they get their kids, how can they ever manage to fix their broken souls? Will their boys every call them "Dad"? And will they be able to save themselves from their own horrific pasts?
1. Chapter 1

_Ms .Elbridge looked down her old crooked nose to see two young boys. The older one, had steel blue eyes hat had fire in them, he had courage, to stand up to her like this. He was also very malnourished, and he wore filthy clothes. The younger one was hiding behind the first, he looked remarkably similar to the brave boy, yet he did not hold the same kind of courage in his eyes. His eyes were broken; they showed a broken spirit, and a broken heart._

_"You have to give us food Ms. Elbridge! You're took us in!" Shouted the brave boy._

_"I don't have to do anything, get out of my sight you filthy children."_

_And she slammed the door in their faces._

_The brave and broken boys walked away, the rain had started falling harder as the night wore on._

_"What a bitch, she feeds all the other kids properly, why not us huh? What the hell did we do to deserve this?!"_

_The broken boy sighed_

_"Al, that's our third orphanage this month, I think we need to just accept the fact that nobody wants us. Al you could still go back to Tex, I'm sure she would let you back-_

_"No."_

_Alfred stopped walking and gripped the broken boy's shoulders tightly._

_"We will find our way out of this, we always do Mattie."_

_Suddenly a large crash sounded beside their heads, they glanced behind them to see Ms. Elbridge._

_"Life is fucking hard kids, get used to it!"_

Al woke up in a cold sweat. He hated nightmares, especially the ones that involved his childhood. He sits up in his bed and looked around. He could see he was in the new Hetalia Home Helpers new building.

After several years o the streets after he came of age, he got himself into college, majoring in child psychology with his (foster) brother Matthew Williams. Originally both social workers for a few years, they managed to work their asses off, got sponsored and managed to create their dream company, the Hetalia Home Helpers. Mattie and Al would soon be taking abandoned and abused children to live with them on a permanent basis, and would raise them in the small home. The state government love the idea, hoping to see it do well, so that the group could expand and help the growing foster program in the U.S.A.

Al dragged himself out of bed and pulled a baggy grey shirt over his head. He was pretty skinny, with a scraggily beard and bright blue eyes, his short blonde hair had one unruly piece sticking up, and he needed to wear glasses. He walked to the kitchen of his new house in his boxers, poured himself a cuppa coffee and proceeded to pour half a bottle of whiskey in as well. Nothing like a good drink to start off his day. He called Mattie and soon his brother was bustling around the kitchen, making himself some toast and eggs. Mattie and Al looked pretty similar, even though they weren't related at all. They had become brother s at age 7 for Al and 4 for Mattie, and it had been that way ever since. Al was bouncing up and down in his seat; he was so excited because Ms. Hedervary was coming by today with their first kid. After his cup, Al ran to his room pulled on some jeans and ran to the bathroom to shave.

The house was pretty small, but pretty homey. It had a living room across from the kitchen. The living room had a giant flat screen TV and they had been supplied with tons of video games as well as cable. The kitchen had a long elevated table through the middle; with bar stools as seats, Al loved it. There was then a hallway with 5 bedrooms, two on either side and one at the end, that one was Mattie's. Al had called first dibs on the one master bedroom that was connected to the living room and the bathroom.

Al jumped as the phone started ringing. He heard Mattie pick up.

"Hello this is Matthew Williams how may I help you?"

"Oh you're bringing him over now? Great! We'll be outside shortly, have a nice day!"

*click*

"Al our first kid is here!" Called Mattie.

Al jumped from his stool in the bathroom and ran to the front door just as the doorbell rang. Outside the door stood Eliza Hedervary, she was the kid's agent, and she would be brining most of the kids. She was wearing a tight blue business suit with a bright smile and long curly brown hair.

Beside her stood an 11 year old boy, He had short cut blonde hair, light blue eyes, and he was extremely malnourished. He was wearing clothes that the agency had provided him with, and white shirt and black sweats, and he looked petrified.

"Good morning Mr. Jones, 'm Ms. Hedervary, and I'm Ryan's agent, as well as your liason with the agency. Here's my cared." She says, handing it to him.

"Ah, just call me Al, is this guy Ryan?" He asked peeking behind her.

Ryan continued to stare at the floor, expression not changing.

"Yes it is. Ryan here volunteered for the program, and I'm hoping everything goes well" she says now sitting on Ryan's level. "Ryan this is Mr. Jones, he's going to be your new father as well as Mr. Williams back there."

Ryan's' face looks up, "Hello Sir." He forced out, in a tone of forced respect.

"Hey Ryan, let's show you to your room and Al can settle things up with Ms. Hedervary here. Mattie says warmly as he took Ryan's hand gently and led him away.

As Ryan disappeared with Matt Eliza stood back up. "Mr. Jones I'm terribly sorry to leave you with this one right off the bat, but… Well it's one we really needed to get into a safe place. You guys are different than most homes, under government protection, so his parents won't get him back." She spat out with obvious disgust towards Ryan's parents.

"What's the story?" asked Al, now nervous. Eliza sighed. "Long story short, I'll leave you the files with more detail, but Ryan was pretty badly neglected for a long time. His parents were both drug addicts and didn't do anything to care for the family; no water bills no electricity, no food, just drugs. Ryan ended up supporting his family, and did a pretty good job at keeping then all alive until about a week ago when he came to school late, begging them to help his mom or she was going to die, she had overdosed. His mother is currently in the hospital in a comatose state; his father is and will hopefully stay in jail for the rest of his life, for Ryan's sake. If his mom ever wakes up and gets out of rehab she could potentially get custody of him, so we gave him this option."

"And he took it immediately." Al finished his face now mirroring Eliza's. Sadly, it wasn't even the worse story he ever heard. He smiled at Eliza, "well you don't' need to worry about Ryan any longer. Me and Mattie are going to save him! We'll start with some food..."

Eliza laughed "I sure hope you do, he's about thirty ponds underweight, you should also look to buying him some new clothes."

Eliza glanced at her watch and sighed "I'm sorry Mr. Jones but I really have to go, I will continue to check up on Ryan, call me if you need anything."

She stood up, patted his shoulder awkwardly and then left the house. Al turned around to see Mattie and Ryan emerging from the hallway, Ryan not looking quite so scared.

"So, Ryan, I was thinking we should go grab you some clothes and some stuff for your room. We should also grab some lunch, I know I'm starving!" Alfred said to Ryan.

"Y-You don't have to do that." Said Ryan quietly.

"Nah men don't sweat it, that's what we do! Let's go!" Al bounded happily to their car Ryan following behind reluctantly and Mattie brining up the rear.

The drive to the mall was silent, Ryan just staring out the window the whole time. Mattie was reading Ryan's files and Al was driving. When they arrived they decided to go shopping first.

"So which shirts do you want, polo's?" Al pointed one direction, "or baseball tee's? He pointed the other way. Ryan shrugged "Whichever is the least amount of money." Mattie sighed, "Ryan, money is not a factor you should be considering, and you just pick what you want." Ryan reluctantly pointed to the baseball tees. "Thank you sir." After some more shopping, Al, Ryan, and Mattie went to a fast food place for food. Al ordered a huge burger combo with a large fries and a slushie, Matt order himself a salad and Ryan a happy meal. Ryan protested the whole time. "Seriously guys you don't need to spend so much money on me, I don't need any of this stuff."

After forcing Ryan to eat his food, his cheeks had a bit more color. Alfred had tried to ask him what he liked to do, but all he got was "No sir, you may just take me back to your place." Al sighed, "Please Ryan, call me Al. And are you sure man? We could go to the park, or the movies, we want to get to know you." Alfred tried a reassuring smile.

"Ryan nods, "I would like to go to sleep if that's all right?" He says, still not looking Al in the eyes. Al internally sighs, "Sure thing kiddo."

Mattie walks in, carrying various bags of clothes and other various objects that they had seen Ryan glance at. Ryan looked away and Al noticed he was biting his lip, hard.

"Ryan? You ok?" asks Al, seeing he's stressed out.

"Mr. Jones you don't have to spend so much on me, please…" he says, now deflating into his chair.

Alfred gave Mattie a puzzled look; they would have to talk to him tonight.

When they got home Ryan immediately fell asleep, so Mattie and Al sat on the couch in silence. Mattie was the first to speak.

"Is it me or do we have an extremely unselfish kid on our hands?" He questioned thoughtfully. Al sighed, "I've already texted Eliza but there's nothing indicating this would happen on the files, I think we should just talk to him in the morning.

As fate would have it, Al was woken up in the middle of the night by a knock on his door," come in," he called. Ryan walked in in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle PJ's. "Mr. Jones I'm sorry to bother you but I hoped that you were awake…" Ryan says.

Al smiles. "Ryan you are allowed to come and talk to me when ever you want, and I mean WHEN EVER." Al spoke confidently, as he patted the bed beside him. Ryan sat down at the opposite end of the bed."I'm really sorry you spent all that money on me, I was selfish, I really don't need all those things, and I can eat bread and water I promise I can!" he said all in one breath, he looked to be on the brink of tears.

Al looked into Ryan's eyes, "What's wrong with that Ryan?" Al wondered aloud. "I know how these things work," Ryan spat bitterly, "the boys at the other places told me. You guys get paid to keep me here, but if I cost more money than you make, I'll get sent home, I don't want to go back there you have to return that stuff please!" Ryan was full out crying now. "Al brought Ryan into his lap and wrapped his arms around his stomach in a hug. "Ryan did Eliza not tell you about our situation at all?" Ryan hiccupped. "B-But none of that's true right? Y-You can st-still send me back?" His voice broke. Al smiled gently. "Ryan, it's the truth, you are here to live with me and Mattie for the rest of your life, and you never have to go back if you don't want to. Me and Mattie are your fathers' now." Ryan turned around, "You mean that Al?" Al smiled a big toothy grin, "'course I do bud, bring it in." Ryan tightly wrapped his arms around Alfred's middle. Muffled sobs and 'thank you's' could be heard. They fell asleep in each other's arms.

~2 months later~

Eliza was over at the Hetalia House for the fourth official time since she had brought Ryan. She was currently sitting alone on the couch with Ryan, doing her usual checkup.

"So how have things been going Ryan?" She asked. Ryan grinned, "Things are great! Mattie walks me to school every day and watches Pokémon with me on TV! Al took me to go play baseball last weekend and it was great! He also taught me how to play video games cuz I need to learn to pwn all the noobs. I love it her Eliza!" He finished happily. Eliza grinned. "I'm glad to hear that Ryan, so what about your old school friends Gilbert and Vash?" Ryan's grin dropped slightly, "well we still all hang out at school and stuff but neither of their moms trust Al yet, they say he's too 'rambunctious' whatever that means." Eliza laughed, "Well he is quite the character."

Ryan then blushed and looked down at his knees, "uh… can I ask you a personal question?" He stuttered, getting redder by the second. Now Eliza was curious, "of course Ryan, what is it?"

Ryan went to the living room to go watch TV as Mattie and Al walked in, "so how'd it go?" asked Al. Eliza smiled, "it went great, he's really starting to improve, he's talking and smiling again!" She finished happily. Al and Mattie breathed out simultaneous sighs of relief, "thank god." Eliza grinned "but he did have a special request, he asked me if he could call you two dad, I said yes of course but..." she trailed off. Al's heart melted right then and there. _"Finally Tex, I'm doing something right."_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Lovino's Trust

"DAD! STOP IT! THAT'S CHEATING!" screams Ryan, pushing Alfred's shoulder away from him. The two of them are in the living room, Mario Kart blaring loudly on the screen, Al just having sent a blue shell at Ryan. Alfred is laughing, but he slows down a bit to let Ryan catch up again.

"All's fair in love and war kiddo!" he says smiling, reaching over and proceeding to give Ryan a mean noogie.

It had been a few months since Ryan had started living with the Hetalia Home Helpers (HHH), an organization that Alfred Jones and his foster brother Matthew Williams had started in order to help children in need of a loving home environment. Ryan was the first child under their protection, and he'd been flourishing, much to their hopes. Finally at a normal weight, he was starting to be a normal kid again. Bringing his friends Gilbert and Vash over for after school play dates, do stuff with his dads, and smiling again. He wasn't completely fixed, his heart still bore the scars of his early childhood, and he still retreated to his room to be alone every now and again, but today? Today was a good day.

Alfred's friend Eduard had supplied a ton of video game consoles; Ryan was a big fan of the older models. They had family game night every Friday night of the week. They would stay up all night in their pajamas and try to get the achievements in all the games.

"I want a rematch!" Ryan demanded, as Alfred quickly crossed the finish line. There's a buzzing sound, and Al feels his phone vibrating on the coffee table next to the couch, with a familiar ringtone echoing. He had set up Walking on Sunshine as Eliza's ringtone, Ryan's agent and their connection with the foster and adoption system.

Mattie, who had been sitting on the couch watching the two of the earlier, leans over and grabs the controller from Al. "Bet you can't beat me Ryan!" Ryan immediately started up the race again, and the two started furiously playing another round.

"Back in a sec kiddo!" called Al, walking outside to their back porch. It was late may, and it was scorching hot in the late hours of the night. Accepting the call, Al put the phone to his ear. "Hello?" he asks.

"Alfred, I have an emergency on my hands, and we could really use your help with the one." He hears over the phone. Eliza sounds extremely shaken up. Al's forehead crinkles, now getting concerned. "We're here Eliza; just let us know what we need to do."

With their current system of funding, they could only take in a few kids at a time. After Ryan got the clear from the agency and on Eliza's personal recommendation, they were given the thumbs up to let more kids into their home.

"His name is Lovino, he's five, and… (She takes a deep breath) His father just brutally murdered his little brother in front of him, and then took his own life. Alcoholic, he completely lost it. Lovino saw all of it close up." She says, forcing out the last part in a whisper.

Alfred cringes. "Does he…"

"Yes. He knows exactly what happened. He doesn't quite understand it, but he's quite clear in knowing that his little brother is gone and his daddy was the one who did it. Worse, this has been an ongoing thing, apparently this wasn't the first time Daddy had hurt Feli, his brother's name. He says that Daddy hurt him the most, but he couldn't protect Feli this time." Eliza says. Still calmly, but in a voice of barley concealed trembling.

"How's the kid holding up?" Alfred asks, trying to control his aching heart.

"Not well, I'll explain when I get there. Thank god he's sleeping now; he's in my car with me. I'm heading your way, so I'm hoping you can take him. Al, he's got no one. I have been calling half the goddam country but there just isn't any living family for him to go to. If we wait much longer he'll be forced to go into a regular system and I just don't believe he'll survive through that." She says in hushed tones, rapidly."Where are you at?" Al says, planning things already in his head.

"Dallas, in traffic of course. I've got the paperwork; I'll do it at your house if you don't mind." She says.

Alfred takes a deep breath, "We'll be ready, and you can count on us." He says, hoping the kid will be all right.

"I'm going to have a brother?" Ryan asks as Al and Mattie finished setting up one of the unused rooms, across the hall from Ryan's, diagonal from Mattie's room. Ryan was helping insistently too; straightening the bed covers, dusting all the surfaces of the room, multiple times.

Alfred smiled at him. "Yep, his name is Lovino. He's five and he's from Dallas, Texas. Lovino is kind of like you, since he didn't have a good home, so be very nice to him!" Al finished sternly; Ryan nodded his head and continued to clean.

"Eliza will be bringing him by in a few hours, but I'm sure he will be tired, so we'll let him go straight to bed." Al says, stuffing a pillow into a red pillowcase. "Oh, and Ryan, no questions asked ok? We are going to let him talk when he wants to." Mattie adds.

Ryan smiles shyly. "Ok, do you think we might be friends?"

Mattie nods. "Yep, I bet he'll love having an awesome big brother! Who wouldn't? I sure did." Mattie says playfully punching Al in the arm. "Do I need to do anything to be a big brother?" Ryan asks. Al looked at the kid and smiles, sitting down on the bed. Looking at Ryan at eye level, he says "Well just be there if he wants to talk, and listen to him. He might tells you stuff he wouldn't tell me or Mattie or anyone else! Since you're his big brother, you need to make sure he's safe. Ok?" Alfred says officially. Ryan nods his head, taking the information very seriously.

Alfred looks at his watch, "woah kiddo, its way past your bedtime!"

Ryan starts pouting. "Can't I stay up to meet my new brother? Pleeeeease!" he says while whining. Alfred is happy to see Ryan being selfish for once and turns to Mattie who's nodding his head. "Ok, I guess so. Though are you sure you can stay up that late, he won't be here for a while!" Ryan nods his head quickly and dashes out of the room and back to the living room to wait.

By ten PM, Ryan was snoring softly in Mattie's lap on the couch. Poor kid had tried so hard to fight his sleep, but he finally had to give in. It was cute though; he was excited, which was a good sign for him.

A soft knock was heard at the door, Alfred quickly ran to answer, and outside the door was a very tired looking Eliza. Unlike last time she was at the house, she was currently wearing casual clothes that seemed rather dirty. In her arms was a small boy. He had dark brown hair, with a single strand curling out the side of his head. He had chubby cheeks, and he was still fast asleep. He was wearing a blue cotton onesie, something the agency obviously provided him with, and was all together the most adorable kid Alfred had ever seen.

"I'm so sorry about the short notice Al I..." Eliza stopped talking as Lovino slowly opened his eyes. She set him down on the ground; he looked up at Alfred and immediately ran to hide behind Eliza's legs. She sighed, "One thing I should've mentioned earlier is that he is terrified of adult men, they remind him of his father." She then turned around and knelt on the ground at his level.

"Hey Lovino, this is Alfred and Mattie. They are going to be taking care of you from now on. I don't want you to be scared of them though ok? They are nothing like your old daddy and they would never want to hurt you." Eliza finished, waiting with baited breath.

Lovino turned his gaze to Alfred, who steps forward a step. "Hey Lovino, I'm not going hurt you, me and Mattie are going to be your new daddies now ok?" He reached his hand out for Lovino's and…

*CHOMP*

Lovino's sharp teeth went straight through the skin on Alfred's hand; Al yelped and immediately retracted his hand, nursing it quietly. Eliza quickly took Lovino back into her arms hugging him tightly. "It's ok Lovino I've got you now, here why don't I take you to your new bedroom so you can lie down for a bit ok?" She nodded to Mattie who silently led Eliza and Lovino to his new bedroom. She lay Lovino down on his bed and quietly left the room. Lovino was pouting and refused to look at anyone else.

Eliza sighed "I only got him to trust me a little bit, and that's probably because I look like his mother, she left when Lovino's father started getting drunk. That bitch left behind Lovino and Feliciano though." Alfred and Mattie walked over to the couch where Ryan was still asleep. They quietly walked back into the kitchen to sort out the paper work. "Those fuckers shouldn't even call themselves police officers!' Eliza exploded with quiet fury. "When I got there they had left Lovino sitting on a bench still soaked in his brother's blood! When I asked them why they said kids are not their responsibility! Honestly I just want to..." She trailed off, looking defeated.

In an attempt to lighten the conversation Mattie said "you look a bit tense Eliza, want me to rub your back for you?" Eliza snickered, "I will end you Williams." All three shared a quiet laugh, and then they all sighed simultaneously. "So, we should probably get started on that paper work huh?"


End file.
